Baillieu in the dark on police meeting

Victorian Premier
Ted Baillieu
insisted yesterday he had no idea his chief of staff had arranged a meeting with the officer now at the centre of a scandal engulfing the highest ranks of the state’s police force.

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Mr Baillieu declined to say what was discussed at the meeting, including the prospect that Sir Ken may replace Mr Overland or a dispute over the accuracy of crime statistics.

“I’m not going to get into the details of a meeting I was not a party to," he said. “My advice is there was nothing that warranted any further action."

Mr Baillieu defended the role of Mr Kapel in the government.

“He meets with people all the time, I have confidence in him," he said.

Mr Baillieu appealed for patience while the inquiries, including those by the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) and the state’s Ombudsman, were completed. Mr Kapel was unavailable for comment.

In Opposition, Mr Baillieu was highly critical of the behaviour of ministerial staff, insisting that they should front parliamentary inquiries, particularly in relation to a dispute over redevelopment of the Windsor Hotel.

He promised to introduce a ministerial code of conduct but is yet to do so. And the government is yet to introduce legislation to establish an independent corruption commission.

The meeting is the latest in a string of incidents that have thrown the spotlight on to the relationship between Mr Overland and Sir Ken. The chief commissioner recently ordered Sir Ken to leave the force prior to his agreed resignation date.

Mr Baillieu said the meeting had taken place at Sir Ken’s home because it was convenient.

He said he did not know and had not sought to find out who gave Sir Ken his personal mobile number and Mr Kapel’s contact details.

Opposition leader Daniel Andrews has called for Mr Kapel’s actions to be examined in the inquiry under way into police command by barrister Jack Rush.

“[Mr Kapel] speaks for the Premier, he acts for the Premier, if the Premier’s defence in this is that he didn’t know, well I think that’ll be news to a lot of his cabinet colleagues," he said.

“I don’t know whether [the meeting] was a job interview, I don’t know whether it was a dirt-digging exercise – I don’t know."

OPI director Geoff Strong has declined to comment on the nature of his investigations. Yesterday his office criticised the media’s reporting of events.

“He doesn’t want to get into a media slugfest no matter how outrageous the allegations," his spokesman told The Australian Financial Review. “There is a campaign of ­malice and misinformation out there to discredit the OPI."